Reviewed by annieb123 on
Seasonal Plant Dyes is a tutorial and instruction guide for natural botanical dyes and projects by Alicia Hall. Due out 30th Jan 2020 from Pen & Sword on their White Owl imprint, it's 104 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
There is a particular beauty and perennial appeal with the more subtle, gentle, and less saturated natural dyes. This book provides an accessible introduction to the methods, tools, and plants necessary to get started. The introductory chapters (~35% of the page content) cover harvesting plants, choosing materials to dye, tools, mordanting with soya milk (new concept to me), dyeing basics, and some alternative preparations with metal and oxides.
The rest of the book is split into seasonal preparations and an abbreviated herbal with 5 plants for each season. Each of the seasonal chapters also includes a simple project tutorial such as cushion cover, embroidered picnic blanket, water bottle cover, and pieced quilt.
The pictures are appealing and restful. The author emphasizes safety and (where applicable) organic and easily sourced ingredients. The included projects are very simple and appealing. Natural dyeing is an experimental and experiential craft. It is almost impossible to get consistent results and the author's writing style goes with that flow.
The book doesn't include an index or links for further reading, or a bibliography. The measurements included in the tutorials are in standard (metric) measures. There is no conversion tool in the book.
I loved the easy and accessible prose and the lovely clear pictures. Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 5 January, 2020: Reviewed